It is well known that most golfers, including professionals, occasionally find themselves in a sand trap. It is also known that golf etiquette requires a player to fill and smooth his footprints and depressions left in the sand after he has hit a golf ball out of the sand trap. In order to accomplish this, many golf courses may leave a rake or the like in the vicinity of the sand traps. Unfortunately, these rakes tend to disappear, which not only adds substantial cost to the operation of the golf course, but also makes it quite difficult for a player to properly restore the surfaces of the sand trap.
In an attempt to alleviate this problem, many different configurations of rakes have been proposed in the past, often involving a rake head adapted to be connected to the end of the golf club. One such rake head is U.S. Pat. No. 2,721,755 to Walner. The Walner rake head appears to be very similar in size to a standard rake and is adapted to be secured to the handle portion of the golf club. When removed from the golf club, however, the Walner rake head is relatively large, thereby making it very difficult and inconvenient for a golfer to carry it around with him.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,870,300 to Amendola shows a golf tee holder which holds a row of six or seven golf tees and also includes a means for securing the same to the handle of the golf club. While the golf tee holder of Amendola can function as a rake and is smaller and more easily carried about than the earlier-mentioned rake, Amendola's device appears to be so small as to be relatively inefficient for raking purposes. Also, the removal of tees from this rakehead decreases its effectiveness as a rake.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,216,831 to Ritchie attempts to improve on both Walner and Amendola by providing a collapsible rake head which is smaller than Walner and, therefore, allegedly easier to carry. Also, Ritchie's rake head is larger than Amendola's, so that it can more efficiently function as a rake. The Ritchie device includes a center mounting bracket and a pair of pivotally secured rake blades mounted on either side of the mounting bracket. Such rake blades are operable between an open position in which they can function as a rake, and a closed position wherein the blades are rotated upwardly for storage or carrying.
Although Ritchie solves some of the problems of the Walner and Amendola patents, it creates additional problems, and by way of example, when the rake head of Ritchie is folded into its collapsed position, the two rake blade halves are spaced apart from each other with the teeth extending outwardly in opposite directions. Because of the width of the collapsed rake head and the protruding rake teeth, it becomes difficult to slip the collapsed rake head into a golfer's pocket and it is also difficult to carry the same in a golf bag. Furthermore, when utilizing any rake, it is to be realized that there are upward forces asserted on the sides of the rake head. Since the Ritchie device collapses by folding the two blade halves upwardly, his rake head may tend to collapse when the same is in use.
This present invention will be seen to relate to a rake head of a type highly suitable for temporary attachment to the grip of a golf club, that is a distinct improvement over the above-mentioned prior art devices, as well as others of this general type.